Konoha's Great Ape
by Sechrima
Summary: Naruto/Dragon Ball crossover. The space pod of a Saiyan infant lands in the forest near Konoha. Adopted by the Sarutobi clan, Goku grows up to become a ninja like no other. Four-Tails Jinchuuriki!Goku. Pairings undecided.
1. Prologue: The Newest Sarutobi

**Prologue: The Newest Sarutobi**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was finally in retirement. After almost a lifetime of dutiful service to Konoha, he had passed on the Hokage's hat to a worthy successor. And now he was enjoying a short break at his forest cabin, which was located twenty-five kilometres northwest of the Hidden Leaf.

It was good, Sarutobi thought while chopping some firewood outside his cabin, to finally be free of the burden of leadership. Over the years he had faced many crises and been forced to send friends and loved ones to their deaths. He did not regret his life at all, but he was certainly relieved that those difficult times were behind him at long last. In his twilight years he intended to spend plenty of time with his family and maybe publish a few more books. With Minato at the helm, Konoha was safe and sound and Hiruzen could finally put himself and his family ahead of his duty to others. Just in time, too, since his bones were beginning to ache every morning and evening, and his mind wasn't quite as sharp as he remembered it being when he was younger.

With these idle thoughts circling around in his head, the retired Hokage almost didn't notice a distant whistling sound that filtered down through the canopy of trees above. When he finally did notice it and turned his eyes skyward, he saw through a break in the foliage that in the sky, a spherical object was hurtling like a meteor toward him. Hiruzen quickly leapt into the trees and began to dart through the forest from tree to tree, away from where he predicted the object would crash.

A few seconds later a heavy _thud_ shook the forest trees, startling all manner of woodland creatures, and then a loud _boom_ blasted through the dense flora. A hot wind raked the elderly Sarutobi's back as he continued to move away from the point of impact.

Finally confident that he was at a safe distance, Hiruzen turned around and began to cautiously approach whatever it was that had fallen from the heavens. The closer he got the more certain he became that his cabin must have been absolutely flattened. All around the forest were bright flames, charred earth, and shredded, fallen trees. Dust hung heavy in the air.

Upon reaching the lip of a large crater full of suffocating smoke, the old man shook his head and shed a single tear for his cosy forest abode, which was now nothing more than cindered, shattered charcoal. So much for his short respite from civilisation.

Once the smoke thinned out enough to breathe easily, Hiruzen decided to see if anything was left from whatever it was that crashed on his cabin and ruined his vacation. He jumped into the crater and nimbly climbed down its steep incline. At the very centre of the deep depression he found a smooth, white, spherical… something. It was fairly large and entirely undamaged by its collision with the earth.

"Hrm… curious," the old man whispered to himself, trying to deduce just what it was he was looking at. He'd never seen anything remotely like it before. Perhaps it was some sort of weapon?

Before he could think any further about the nature of the sphere, a loud beeping noise started to come from inside it. A moment later the sphere let out a burst of gaseous steam and began to open. Hiruzen peered inside the orb and tried to make out its interior. Finally, once the door was fully open, he saw that within the sphere was a child – an infant baby boy, to be precise. He lay still on the cushioned seat that comprised the entirety of the capsule's interior.

"A child?" the old Hokage asked himself, bewildered.

As smoke started to creep into the capsule, the child awoke and immediately began to wail loudly. Paternal instincts kicking in, Hiruzen swiftly reached in, picked the small boy up, and pulled him out, gently hushing him. Unfortunately for the old man, the child's wailing only increased in volume as he started to flail about aggressively, thumping Hiruzen with balled fists.

"Umpf! You've got a lot of strength in those little arms, don't you, kid? Ouch." _Actually_, he thought to himself, _That's not normal. No baby is this strong. It feels like I'm getting pummelled by a chūnin!_

It was at this moment that the old Sarutobi noticed that something furry was brushing up against him. He looked down and saw what appeared to be a brown monkey's tail. A moment of confusion passed until Hiruzen realised that the tail belonged to the boy, which actually didn't do much to assuage his confusion.

_Definitely not normal, then._

He wrapped his hand around the tail in an attempt to lift it up and examine it, but even his light grip on it caused the boy's whole body to freeze up and twitch agitatedly. His loud wailing also trailed off into a pained whine. Hiruzen quickly let go of the tail, which resulted in the boy reacting even more angrily than before, the blows from his pudgy fists hammering down with considerable force.

_What a strange child. _"Ouch! Stop that!" _What should I do with him?_

Considering that the boy was all alone, Hiruzen couldn't in good conscience just leave him here to rot. He would have to take him with him back to Konoha. But then what?

"Well, little one, if no one comes to claim you—and somehow I don't think anyone will—then I'll just have to keep you, won't I? Biwako will be delighted, I'm sure. And would you stop hitting me already?"

And so, with the wild little baby boy under his arm, Sarutobi Hiruzen scurried out of the crater and cast a last look at the odd capsule.

_I'll ask Minato to send some ANBU to seal this thing for analysis and safekeeping,_ he decided.

"Well, boy, what should I call you? With your monkey tail you're a good fit for our clan. Hrm, I think you look like a 'Goku'. Sarutobi Goku, what do you think of that, eh?"

Goku answered the old man with a grumpy grunt and a hard kick to the guts, which drove the wind out of Hiruzen's lungs and left him folded over, gasping for breath.

"Well, one thing's certain: you'll be a taijutsu prodigy in no time."


	2. Chapter 1: Unsuspected Threats

**Chapter 1: Unsuspected Threats**

Almost one year had passed since the day that the Sandaime had discovered a strange boy in a capsule fallen from the sky. Hiruzen and his wife Biwako had been very kind to the child, adopting him into their clan and teaching him to walk and speak. But no matter how much affection they showered on little Sarutobi Goku, he never laughed, smiled, or even relaxed, mostly because he was too busy crying, screaming, and throwing violent tantrums. The boy was as wilful and aggressive as the day he was found and just as full of restless energy. Nonetheless the two elder Sarutobis had come to love him like a real son, viewing his unusual behaviour as simple 'boisterousness'.

"Boys will be boys," Biwako blithely remarked to Utatane Koharu, her guest. She was referring to Goku, who had broken the heavy dining room table during breakfast that morning while throwing a particularly feral tantrum.

"…Yes, I suppose so," Koharu replied sceptically, wincing as she recalled an incident from a week prior. She had brought her nephew—a three-year-old—to visit with Goku, thinking it would do both boys good to make friends. That visit had ended with her nephew sporting a broken leg and Goku laughing vindictively at him. Needless to say her nephew was now terrified of the monkey-tailed toddler.

Since then Koharu had concluded that Goku was a dangerous freak of nature and that his behaviour was anything but normal. But Hiruzen and Biwako would hear none of it, so she quickly learned to keep her peace whenever the subject of the boy was raised.

"Anyway, Kushina is due soon, isn't she?" Koharu asked, deftly changing the subject.

Biwako gave a slight nod. "Yes, I've made all the arrangements for the birth. The seal will hold, I'm sure of it."

Koharu nodded as if in agreement, when in reality she was very worried about the threat to the village if the jinchūriki died in childbirth. If it was up to her she never would have permitted Kushina to carry her pregnancy through to term. The risk was too great.

"And what of your husband? Will Hiruzen be in attendance to help keep the seal from breaking?"

"No, he'll be busy writing his latest treatise on nature transformation. But he has assigned a squad of handpicked ANBU to guard the location. Of course he and the Yondaime have already gone over all the seals together, and they're sure everything will go smoothly. I for one trust the Yondaime – that young man knows his way around seals like Jiraiya knows his way around hot springs," said Biwako with a small scowl, snorting in indignation at the thought of her husband's perverted student.

"But I just had a thought. When Hiruzen is writing he can't be disturbed, which means I'll have to bring Goku with me to the birth," Biwako muttered, tapping her chin in thought.

"Oh—uh, well… I'd take the boy, but I just remembered I have to—uh, well, you see—" Koharu trailed off, half stuttering, frantically trying to put an excuse together. She'd be damned if she let herself get suckered into looking after that thuggish little brat.

Biwako held her poker face in place a few moments longer before chuckling at her old friend's predicament.

"Don't worry, Koharu. I don't need a babysitter for the boy. Goku is… a handful, but I know how to keep him in check. He won't be a burden when the time comes."

Meanwhile, in his bedroom in the Sarutobi clan estate, a black-haired boy with a monkey's tail was busy stomping on a toy ninja he'd been given to play with, crushing the plastic figurine underfoot with genuine glee.

_Kill them all, Kakarot… clear the whole planet of life… spare no one… do your duty, Saiyan soldier!_

It was the same mantra, repeated over and over in his mind, accompanied by the same feelings of anger, scorn, and malice. For as long as Goku—_Is that really my name? Or am I Kakarot?_—could remember, he had been hearing the same message repeated again and again in his mind, always accompanied by strong impulses that made him want to wring necks and break bones. Sometimes he knew the feelings weren't his own, because he didn't really want to hurt the old man and woman who were feeding him. But he _should_ want to hurt them, to _kill_ them. That's what the message told him to do. That was his _duty_.

Confused and angry, Goku/Kakarot struck the floor with all his strength. The wood beneath his knuckles splintered on impact. He then continued smashing his toy ninja into a mangled wreck.

Also meanwhile, but far away from Konoha, a man robed in black with his face shrouded in darkness stood in front of a cave in a barren locale. At the mouth of the cave stood another man, his fiery red hair spiked up in a vertical ponytail. He wore a brown headpiece to which a metal plate bearing the symbol of Iwagakure was attached. His face was youthful and ruggedly handsome.

"Rōshi of Iwa, jinchūriki of the Yonbi, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance," the robed man said in greeting, his voice mocking and cold.

Rōshi looked a little taken aback that the stranger knew who he was but quickly took it in stride.

"Hello. I'm afraid I don't know who you are. Care to introduce yourself?" he prompted while fingering a curved kunai behind his back, just to be safe.

The dark stranger lowered his hood, revealing a blood-red mask decorated with a black flame pattern. Above the mask a head of spiky black hair was visible. Otherwise there was nothing to distinguish about the man's appearance that gave Rōshi any idea who he was dealing with.

"My name does not concern you. But I suppose my purpose here does."

Rōshi tightened his grip on the curved kunai behind him while allowing a trickle of the Four-Tails's sweltering chakra to enter his system. "And what purpose would that be?"

A dark chain slipped out of the masked man's right sleeve, kicking up a whirl of dust as it pooled in a small heap on the ground.

"I'm here to rip the Yonbi out of you and place it under my control," the masked man uttered baldly, remaining perfectly still while appraising the host of the Four-Tailed Demon Monkey.

Rōshi's eyes narrowed as a palpable crimson aura of heat-distorted air began to shimmer all around his body. His eyes quickly morphed into twin yellow orbs of primal fury and all his muscles bulked up considerably.

"Over my dead body," the jinchūriki growled, his hands forming fists, which he then lowered to the ground, assuming a gorilla-like stance, kunai still clutched in one hand.

"That's the plan," the masked man intoned before suddenly disappearing in a swirl of displaced space-time.

The redheaded Iwa ninja reflexively spun around in search of his attacker, but too late as the masked man had somehow instantaneously appeared directly behind him and swiftly disarmed him of his kunai. Not only that, but he also rapidly turned the weapon on Rōshi and drove it deep into his stomach, twisting the curved knife to elicit a cry of agony and a copious gush of dark blood.

Fighting through the pain, gritting his teeth determinedly, Rōshi flashed through a few hand seals and then threw a heavy haymaker at his enemy. "Doton: Kengan no Jutsu! Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique!"

His fist encased in solid rock, Rōshi expected to bludgeon the stranger senseless and buy some time to let the Yonbi heal his stomach wound. Instead, his stone-clad fist carried right through the masked attacker without making contact, leaving Rōshi startled, overextended, and vulnerable.

In seconds the masked man's long black chain snaked around Rōshi's body, constricting and tightening painfully. In an instant the Iwa ninja found himself completely immobilised.

"All too easy," the robed figure said before both he and Rōshi swirled into nothingness, warping through space and time.

_With both the Kyuubi _and _Yonbi under my control, I can be certain that Konoha will be destroyed. Not even the infamous Yellow Flash has what it takes to hold off two bijū at once._

The masked man allowed himself a satisfied chuckle as he set about extracting the Four-Tailed Monkey from its wounded jinchūriki host, whose body was now entrapped in a matrix of chakra-absorbent chains and surrounded by a complicated array of seals. Soon the blood loss caused by the kunai-inflicted stomach wound would weaken the seal, allowing the Yonbi to be extracted. A quick Shihai Fūin Domination Seal later and the gorilla-like demon would be enslaved to the masked man's will, under contract to obey his commands.

_And at last the war to bring everlasting peace will begin…_


	3. Chapter 2: The Long Shadows of Demons

**Chapter 2: The Long Shadows of Demons**

The longest and bloodiest night in the history of the Hidden Leaf was finally over, though the memory of it would live on in terrible grief for years to come. Sarutobi Hiruzen sat exhausted in his old chair behind the Hokage's desk, his body slack from fatigue and misery.

The evening had begun as expected, with Kushina's son's birth a closely kept secret among the village elite. Dozens of precautions and safeguards had been set in place to ensure the Kyūbi no Kitsune would remain sealed within Kushina. But obviously something very wrong had happened. The demonic fox had broken free of its seal and proceeded to carve a path of devastation through Konoha, killing dozens upon dozens of civilians and shinobi alike. That would have been bad enough, except that the fox was soon joined in its rampage by the Yonbi no Saru. A hopeless situation had quickly descended into something resembling an apocalypse.

Torrents of lava and a scalding rain of flaming rocks had swept through the Leaf, scorching anyone unable to escape the molten onslaught in time. The village, now hours later, still reeked pungently of sulphur and smoke.

In the end, the Yondaime Hokage had appeared out of thin air riding atop Gamabunta's head, momentarily subduing the Kyūbi. He had then engaged the Yonbi in battle, but even the gigantic chief toad had not come close to matching the monstrous primate's tremendous physical strength. Hiruzen had watched in awed helplessness as the Kyūbi and Yonbi then ganged up on the Yondaime, barraging him with colossal Bijūdama Tailed Beast Balls. Using a Jikūkan Kekkai Space-Time Barrier, the Yellow Flash had teleported the demonic attacks away from Konoha, much to the Sandaime's surprise and relief.

What then followed was something that Hiruzen would never have predicted. Truth be told, he was still stunned by Namikaze Minato's heroic self-sacrifice. The Fourth had used the Shiki Fūjin Dead Demon Consuming Seal to defeat the rampaging giants. Of course this resulted in his own death, which was a tragic loss for the Leaf. The blond village leader had been a beacon of hope and a source of singular pride for the people of Konohagakure.

His premature death was, unfortunately, not the only consequence of Minato's selfless actions. He had taken the Kyūbi and sealed it into his own newborn son. Since the Yonbi could not also be safely contained within the same jinchūriki, the lava-spitting simian had required its own host. Minato had chosen the only other child he had on hand: Sarutobi Goku, who had been accompanying Biwako before the disaster had begun.

Sarutobi gave a shuddering sigh, his heart pained by the losses he had suffered last night. His wife was dead, killed in the chamber where Naruto had been born inside the Hokage Monument, presumably by the Kyūbi or whatever backlash had accompanied the beast's release. On this issue the Sandaime was still unclear. His wife and the ANBU assigned to protect the chamber all died from what appeared to be broken necks or strangulation, which didn't match up well with the Kyūbi's preference for mass-mayhem over precision murder. Also, the fact that _two_ of the legendary demons had attacked in a single night warranted a large amount of suspicion. Perhaps the Kyūbi had called on its four-tailed brother when the seal weakened, but this theory required more than a little suspension of disbelief. And how had it come to pass that Iwa's jinchūriki had lost its bijū in the first place?

_Well, one of the first things I have to do as Hokage is open an investigation into how this catastrophe was able to occur, _Hiruzen surmised, though he felt weighed down with doubt that any explanation would be forthcoming. Whoever had orchestrated the attack—if it _was_ orchestrated—had no doubt covered their tracks.

The Sandaime soon turned his thoughts to the two baby boys sleeping in a room within the Hokage Tower.

"Two jinchūriki… well, the balance of power will swing decisively in our favour when they both grow up and come into their full strength," he muttered to himself. "But until that time, the villagers won't make their lives easy. I'll have to think of something to stop them from mistreating the boys."

Of course, Sarutobi knew, Goku would be well protected and taken care of in the Sarutobi clan. But Naruto was another matter. Both his parents were dead, the village was aware of his 'tenant', and it wouldn't be safe to announce the newborn's true parentage until he was older and strong enough to protect himself. Hatred ran deep for the Yondaime among the shinobi of Iwa and Kumo, so much so that the son of the Yellow Flash would almost certainly be the target of assassination attempts now that his father was no longer around to protect him.

_I suppose he can keep his mother's surname. Her marriage to Minato was a fairly well guarded secret, after all. I'll make sure to watch over him and protect him from afar as best I can, but adoption is out of the question. Other villages will investigate his true identity if I show him too much favour, and it wouldn't be too hard to connect the dots in this case. I'm sorry, Minato, Kushina, but unless Jiraiya comes to take the boy, there's not much more I can do for him._

The Sandaime was suddenly broken out of these unhappy thoughts when an awful killing intent reached his senses. The horrible feeling was coming from a room down the hall – the same room where the two little demonic containers had been put to sleep.

With speed belying his advanced age, the Hokage dashed out of his office and down the hallway. When he reached his destination and swung the door open, he was met with the disturbing sight of a black-haired toddler enveloped in bloody red chakra flames, his eyes ringed with yellow, fists clenched in bestial rage. The floorboards beneath the Yonbi jinchūriki's feet were smoking from the intense power he was radiating. His tail was swishing about violently, casting waves of intense heat around the room. In a crib in the corner, little Naruto had begun to cry.

For a moment Sarutobi Hiruzen was too stunned to act. This wasn't supposed to be possible. He had already checked over the Yondaime's handiwork and the seal holding the Yonbi in place was flawless. The only way Goku should be able to access the demonic chakra was if his emotional state closely matched his tenant's, which meant an overwhelming feeling of barbaric fury.

"Goku, it's me, your grandpa. Calm down, now," the Sandaime admonished gently, slowly approaching the enraged toddler. "It's alright. Everything's fine."

"No! I'll kill you!" the boy screamed before sprinting toward the old Sarutobi, his small legs propelling him across the room much faster than they should have been able to.

Startled, the Hokage barely brought up his arms in time to guard himself from the small boy's clumsy attacks. Hiruzen grunted in pain as the child struck him repeatedly with unbelievable power. Goku had always possessed the strength of a trained soldier, which was freakish enough. But now, with the Four-Tailed Monkey's blazing chakra coursing through his limbs, his punches packed enough bite to make even a Kage feel threatened.

Unfortunately for Goku, all the strength in the world wasn't enough to make him a true threat to the Sandaime, who, after regaining his composure, swiftly struck the boy on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. He then proceeded to put a Gogyō Fūin Five Elements Seal on Goku's stomach, making it impossible for him to draw on the Yonbi's chakra, at least until it was safe for him to do so.

_Hrm, I'll have to get a Yamanaka to check up on him. I knew he was a bit of a ruffian, but to feel so furious that he could channel the Four-Tails's chakra already! Something isn't quite right with the boy,_ thought Hiruzen while picking Goku up and putting him back in bed.

After soothing Naruto and convincing him to go back to sleep, the Hokage gave a great yawn and headed back to his office. Despite his exhaustion, there was much to do to. First and foremost, the villagers needed to be reassured that Konoha would survive the present crisis. And, Hiruzen remembered, there was the important matter of protecting the two new jinchūriki from some of the more narrow-minded villagers.

_Maybe a law prohibiting any mention of their demon prisoners would be a good solution…_


	4. Ch 3: The Great Ape & the Monkey King

Disclaimer: Naruto and Dragon Ball Z do not belong to me.

**Chapter 3: The Great Ape and the Monkey King**

"And you're sure about this, Yamanaka-san?" the Hokage asked in a sceptical tone of voice while glancing at his adopted child.

An ANBU nin with a cobra mask gave a curt nod. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Whoever cast the genjutsu on him did a pretty poor job. It won't be hard to get rid of it. A good blow to the top of his head will probably do the trick."

Goku gave the ANBU a belligerent glare, not really understanding what they were talking about except for the last bit.

Grimacing, the Hokage replied, "Well, I suppose it's for the best, then."

He turned to Goku and put the palm of his hand on the boy's head. "Now, Goku, I'm going to help get that nasty genjutsu out of your mind, so just relax for a moment."

The boy swished his tail about in irritation and growled at the old man but didn't try to remove the hand from his head.

A second later Hiruzen raised his hand, formed a fist, and then bonked it hard on the little boy's skull.

"Ow!" Goku cried, tears leaking from his eyes as he clutched at his head. "I'll kill you, old bastard."

Sarutobi turned red in embarrassment. "Um, let's try that again."

Another, even harder blow to the head rendered Goku unconscious, drool leaking out of his mouth.

"Oops. Goku! Goku, wake up." The Hokage shook the boy gently until he began to stir, eyes cracking open blearily.

"Uh, I feel bad," the boy mumbled, clutching at his head again.

"Yes, well…" the Hokage trailed off, blushing. "Are you feeling better now, Goku?"

For a moment the boy waited, expecting to feel any number of hateful emotions, but nothing came. When he looked at Hiruzen, he felt for the first time in his life like he was free to be himself. His thoughts were clear and there was no voice in his head urging him to kill everyone. When he appraised the old man, he even felt a little affection.

"Better now," the boy confirmed, grinning. A moment later Goku's attention drifted away from the elder Sarutobi to a butterfly that had entered the Hokage's office. He smiled peacefully while watching it flutter around.

The Hokage sighed in relief. Thank Kami for small miracles.

_Later I'll remove the Gogyō Fūin __Five Elements Seal__. Whatever else that message and those artificial emotions were meant to accomplish, they were definitely the reason Goku could tap into the Yonbi's chakra so effortlessly,_ the Hokage thought, glad that the boy's aggressiveness would finally come to an end.

"Remember, Yamanaka-san, that any information concerning this boy's special circumstances is an S-ranked secret. The punishment for a loose tongue is death," the Sandaime warned in his gruffest business tone.

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

"Good, dismissed."

Once the ANBU agent had departed the office, Hiruzen turned his full attention to Goku, who was now chasing after the butterfly and laughing—really _laughing_. It suddenly struck the old man just how abnormal the little boy had been until now. Never smiling, always angry and resentful. The genjutsu in his mind had continuously fed him strong, dark feelings. Not to mention the repeating message: 'Kill them all, Kakarot… clear the whole planet of life… spare no one… do your duty, Saiyan soldier!'

Was Goku's real name 'Kakarot'? And what was a 'Saiyan'? The Hokage shook his head, unnerved by the mystery that was his adopted grandson. There was something very ominous about the boy, but whatever it was would either become clear one day and be dealt with at that time, or never be an issue, thus allowing Goku to live a good life in the Hidden Leaf. Satisfied with this realisation, Hiruzen wrote a quick report about the genjutsu-induced 'programming' in Goku's consciousness and then filed it away in an S-ranked folder. It joined several classified reports about the white capsule Goku had originally been found in. _That_ particular vehicle was still the subject of intense scrutiny by Konoha's research teams.

One month passed and the repairs to Konoha were well underway. Although still grieving for their lost loved ones and not completely recovered from the shock of a dual bijū attack, the villagers were doing their best to get on with their lives and keep the fiery spirit of Konoha from burning out.

Night had fallen on clear skies, the stars shimmering in their celestial splendour. In his estate, Sarutobi Hiruzen was enjoying a smoke of his pipe when he began to hear distant sounds like screaming. A few seconds later it registered that what he was hearing _were_ in fact screams. Cries of pain, fear, and panic. The Hokage immediately dropped his pipe and ran out into the streets of Konoha. There, at the end of his street, he saw something that actually made him fearful. Another gigantic beast, its dark fur camouflaging it amid the nocturnal gloom, was stomping its way toward the middle of the village, wrecking houses as it went. Occasionally it would stop to roar at the full moon, firing off bright rays of what appeared to be pure chakra from within its gaping jaws.

The Sandaime didn't recognise the ape-like beast as any of the legendary bijū, and it was _far_ bigger than any of the monkeys the Sarutobi clan was able to summon from Kakazan*. Besides, the monkeys of Kakazan were skilled warriors loyal to Enma, and there was no way the great Monkey King would permit any of his subjects to rampage through the Hidden Leaf.

_Still, I can't deny that beast is_ _a primate; therefore he should be answerable to Enma,_ Sarutobi deduced while studying the massive creature, trying to perceive any weaknesses it had.

He quickly bit his thumb and placed his hand on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Summoning Technique!"

A burst of smoke shrouded the Hokage for a moment before being swept away in the wind. Now standing next to the elderly Sarutobi was a large, white-haired monkey wearing a tiger-striped kimono shirt and a Konoha headband.

"What's going on?" the Monkey King demanded directly, all-business.

"You tell me. Is that one of your monkeys over there? If it is, I want you to get him out of here and explain just how and why he got loose in my village." The Sandaime gave his old friend a stern look.

Enma's face showed a mixture of emotions as he watched the giant ape lumbering through Konoha causing mayhem and fear. Sarutobi was able to identify surprise and confusion easily enough. There was no trace of recognition for the rampaging brute in the Monkey King's eyes, however.

"Never seen him before. But he's _very_ big, isn't he? Doesn't appear too clever, though. Wait here, Sarutobi, I'll deal with him," the summon said before flickering away amidst a swirl of leaves.

When Enma reappeared, he did so standing just ten metres in front of the huge ape. "Hey, you there! Just what do you think you're doing? Do you know where you are right now? Who told you you could come here?"

The ape, its eyes glowing with a menacing scarlet light, glared uncomprehendingly at the much smaller primate before it. It then opened its mouth and fired a huge blast of white-hot energy. Enma growled before leaping out of the way. The blazing wave of power struck the earth and exploded, kicking up a storm of flame, dust, and flying clumps of displaced rock.

"You just made a very big mistake," said Enma, snarling, before disappearing in another Shunshin Body Flicker.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen returned to his house to check up on Goku. When he entered the boy's bedroom, however, all he found was an empty bed and an open window, the thick drapes wide open. Casting its lustrous silver light directly through the window was the round, full moon.

"Ah, don't tell me he's gone outside during this debacle," the old man muttered grumpily while quickly checking the other rooms in the house for the boy. "I'm too old for this."

After confirming that the estate was empty, the Hokage went out to check on Enma, who he fully trusted to deal with the giant ape. Sure enough, the Monkey King had somehow managed to bring the raging beast down and was now standing on its back, gripping its huge tail tightly with both arms wrapped around it. _Something_ about that image struck Sarutobi as important, but for a few moments he had no idea why.

_Wait, whenever I squeeze Goku's tail he becomes completely vulnerable. Goku!_

"Enma, don't hurt him! That's my grandson… I think."

The Monkey King looked at the colossal beast, then at Hiruzen, and then at the ape again. "Your… grandson…?"

The Sandaime blushed but nodded anyway. "Well, not my biological grandson. I found him, and most of the time he's just a normal little boy… uh, with a monkey tail. But that's a story for another time; just don't hurt him anymore right now. We need to knock him unconscious."

"Very well. I'll transform and you can use me to knock him out. But you'll have to be quick. This guy is much faster and stronger than I expected him to be."

While the Hokage and his summon were speaking, a small group of ANBU had begun to gather in a perimeter around the incapacitated monster, waiting for the Sandaime's signal before acting. Sarutobi gestured with hand signs for them to hold back and wait. He would handle this.

Enma quickly let go of the beast's tail and leapt into the air, transforming as he did so into a long adamantine staff. Hiruzen caught him effortlessly and, a second later, brought the Monkey King down with considerable force on the great ape's skull. A resounding _thud_ was followed by the creature slumping into unconsciousness.

"Thank you, Enma."

The Monkey King returned to his usual form, standing at the Hokage's side. "No problem. Look, he's shrinking."

Sure enough, the simian colossus began to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller. Sarutobi waited until the beast had become small enough to be dragged by Enma before asking his summon to bring the boy back to the Sarutobi clan estate.

"ANBU, I've got the situation under control. Attend to the villagers' needs and see to it that any wounded are sent to the hospital. Send me a list of casualties at my home as soon as possible. Understood?"

A resounding chorus of affirmatives followed before the ANBU agents disappeared like wraiths into the night.

By the time Enma and Hiruzen had returned to the Sarutobi estate, Goku had returned to his human form, completely naked and still out cold.

"Could you explain this to me, Saru? Because in all the folklore of Kakazan, I've never heard of a human with a monkey tail who can transform into some sort of… monster-ape. Where did you find this kid?" Enma asked while dropping the boy on the front porch of the Hokage's house.

"That's a long story. To tell it quickly: I found him in the forest under unusual circumstances. I adopted him into the Sarutobi clan. During the attack by the Yonbi and Kyūbi, the Yondaime was forced to seal the Yonbi into little Goku here. I'm not sure, maybe that has something to do with his transformation tonight," the Sandaime explained.

Enma's eyes widened at the last bit of information. "So this boy is the Yonbi jinchūriki, huh? Well, he certainly looks the part. But I don't think that transformation had anything to do with the Four-Tails. I didn't sense its chakra in him at all. His chakra felt a lot like my own, to be honest, except it was very primitive."

The Hokage nodded in agreement. "Yes, I also doubt tonight had anything to do with the Yonbi, because I put a seal on the boy that prevents him from drawing on the demon's chakra. Which means the transformation was caused by something else."

"Yes, maybe his tail? It's the only part of him that didn't change at all," offered Enma.

Hiruzen nodded slowly, considering this. "Yes, I suppose it's the only thing that would make sense. When I found the boy I had his blood tested, and the results were very confusing. Though some parts of his DNA are very close to human, others reflect an affinity with apes, and yet others are like nothing any of my medical experts have ever seen."

"A new or a long-forgotten kekkei genkai, perhaps?"

The Sandaime shrugged his shoulders. "That I cannot say for sure. There are other… enigmatic circumstances surrounding the boy. But what really matters is that he is family to me. A true Sarutobi. We'll just have to be vigilant and try to figure out what caused the transformation tonight."

Enma nodded and gave his old friend a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Yes, it's such a shame that such a beautiful night be spoiled by more business with monsters. The full moon is an ill omen for the Hidden Leaf, apparently."

Sarutobi's eyes widened in sudden comprehension. "Wait, Enma – the moon! The full moon. Do you think maybe it influenced the boy, made him transform?"

The Monkey King gave a shrug in answer. "Maybe. There are several animal clans with legends of humans morphing into one of them during the full moon. But as far as I know, we monkeys don't have anything like that in our stories. I'll ask some of the elders and mystics, though. They might know more than I do."

"Thank you, Enma. Maybe I'll remove the boy from the village during the next full moon to test the hypothesis. Better safe than sorry. Anyway, give my warm regards to your people," the Sandaime said, bowing to show his respect.

A moment later the Monkey King disappeared in a burst of white smoke.

Sarutobi lowered his gaze to his grandson and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Yeah, I'm definitely too old for this."

* 'Kakazan', or 'Mount Kaka', is the Japanese word for 'Huaguo Shan', or 'Mount Huaguo', which is the home of many monkeys, demons, and the hero Sun Wukong (on whom both Toriyama's Goku and Kishimoto's Enma are based) in the Chinese novel _Journey to the West_. In this story, Kakazan is the monkey equivalent of the toads' Myōbokuzan.


	5. Chapter 4: Sandaime's Legacy

Disclaimer: Naruto and Dragon Ball do not belong to me.

**Chapter 4: Sandaime's Legacy**

Ten-year-old Sarutobi Goku shovelled cereal into his mouth with a passion, all the while eyeing the dozen pieces of toast he would soon devour. After that, a heaped plate of boiled rice and pork dumplings would follow, then some sushi rolls, and finally a large bowl of miso soup. All around his place at the dining table were cluttered piles of empty plates and bowls.

The boy's grandpa watched on crying silently. "At the rate you eat I'll soon be the poorest Kage in history," he moaned.

Another boy at the other end of the table gave an amused snort of laughter. He was also busy eating, although he only had one bowl of cereal in front of him. He was also a head shorter than Goku.

"Don't worry, gramps. You won't be Hokage for long, anyway. I'm going to beat you soon and take your big hat!" the little boy declared in an attempt at a threatening voice.

The Sandaime raised his hand before his face and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "You really have to stop that, Konohamaru. Your little traps almost killed me last night when I was coming down the staircase."

"That's the idea, gramps. When I beat you you'll have to make me Hokage!"

Goku gave a bark of laughter at his little cousin's antics while imagining the great Sandaime Hokage falling down his own stairs in the middle of the night.

"Cheer up, grandpa! I've got to eat my fill if I want to grow big and strong like you," Goku said around a mouthful of milk and cornflakes.

The Sandaime shook his head ruefully. "You're already strong. You hospitalised your teacher last week during a practice spar, for heaven's sake!"

"I didn't mean to. How was I supposed to know he was so weak?" the boy protested, blushing guiltily.

"He's not weak! Well, not for a chūnin, anyway."

"But he was so slow! And I only hit him a couple times."

The Hokage sighed in exasperation. "I keep telling you, Goku, you're exceptionally strong for your age. You have to be careful. What if you had been fighting one of your classmates? You could kill them, you know?"

Goku took a momentary break from his frantic eating to look abashed. "I'll be more careful next time, grandpa. But if I can't fight anyone at school, how will I get better at taijutsu?"

"Well, you already practice with uncle Asuma every other afternoon, so I suppose you're old enough to start training in Saruken Monkey Fist now. If you promise to be very careful with your strength at the Academy, I'll start instructing you privately whenever I have the spare time," Hiruzen offered, giving Goku a stern, expectant look.

"Yatta!" the boy cried for joy, almost leaping out of his seat at the table.

"I want to learn that, too!" Konohamaru interjected loudly.

"When you're older, Konohamaru. You're still too small."

The little boy instantly began to pout grumpily at his grandfather's negative response.

"You better hurry up and finish your breakfast, Goku. You don't want to be late for class."

Goku nodded and quickly scoffed down the last of his food. With one final slurp of miso soup and a satisfied belch, he left the table and grabbed his backpack by the front door.

"Later, grandpa, Konohamaru!" he called before running outside. Moments later he was gone from the street, a trail of dust hanging in the air behind him.

On the way to the Ninja Academy, Goku spotted another boy headed in the same direction. He had a spiky head of yellow hair and was clad in a black tee with an orange spiral on the front.

"Hey, Naruto, wait up!"

The blond boy turned in Goku's direction and smiled brightly. "Hey, Goku! I'll race you to the Academy!" he declared, already running to get a head start.

"You're on!" Goku called in reply.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Goku to overtake Naruto, and then he continued to put distance between them until he was far ahead of the blond boy.

"Come on, Uzumaki, is that your best?" the young Sarutobi called back over his shoulder, goading his competitor.

Naruto responded by running as fast as he possibly could, putting all his effort into the sprint. Still it wasn't enough to catch up to Goku, who was running at an easy, even gait. As far as Goku was concerned he wasn't even running very fast, but by normal standards he was moving much faster than he should have been able to, even for a shinobi.

Upon arriving at the Academy and coming to a stop, the tailed youth gave a victory shout and turned around to wait for his friend. Forty seconds later a huffing Naruto joined him, hands on his knees while sucking in deep breaths.

"Why are you so much faster than me?" Naruto demanded, frowning in displeasure. "You're only one year older!"

Goku grinned sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head. "Just lucky, I guess."

The blond snorted at that. "That's stupid. You can't be fast because of luck. The old man must be training you in secret."

"Nope, but soon he's going to. He told me this morning that I'm old enough to train with him now," Goku announced excitedly.

Naruto promptly gave him an envious glare. "That's not fair. Why do you get special help from Hokage-jiji?"

"Because I'm his grandson and a member of the Sarutobi clan. I can ask him to include you, but I don't think he's supposed to go around handing out our clan secrets to just anybody," Goku said, realising immediately that it was the wrong thing to say as soon as he saw Naruto's angry frown.

"I'm not 'just anybody'. I'm the future Hokage, dattebayo!"

"Yes, yes, I know. You and Konohamaru. You can have that job as far as I'm concerned. Who wants to sit around doing boring paperwork all day? I'm going to go on adventures around the world and beat up bad guys!"

Naruto was suddenly caught between the need to defend his dream job and agree with Goku that going on adventures sounded like a lot more fun. Still, if he was always away on adventures the villagers would never be able to see how great he was. If he became Hokage they'd all have to recognise him.

"Whatever. I've got to get to class or Iruka-sensei will use that stupid big-head jutsu again and yell at me."

"Big-head jutsu?" Goku asked, never having heard of such a technique.

"Yep. It makes his head blow up real big. It's kind of scary, actually. Anyway, ask the old geezer if I can train with you!" the blond called before disappearing into the Academy building.

Goku soon followed after him but headed down a different corridor once he was inside.

His classroom was already full when he arrived, with only one desk still free at the front of the room. Goku didn't know why, but none of his classmates ever wanted to associate with him, which meant he generally sat alone. It didn't bother him very much and he knew he wasn't alone in being an outsider. Naruto, too, was a loner in his class. But whereas Goku didn't much care that his peers ignored him, Naruto often reacted with spectacular pranks and mischievous behaviour to ensure they took notice of him. The two boys, though similarly good-natured, were also markedly different from each other. Goku always got passing marks in theory and top marks in practical work while Naruto was the dead-last of his year in both theory and practical components of the curriculum. Goku knew his friend didn't lack ability or smarts, but he was completely undisciplined and had the attention span of a fish. Furthermore, Naruto was loud and boastful while Goku tended to be more easygoing and modest. Nevertheless, they had been friends for a number of years, ever since they were still small and had spent a lot of time together in the Hokage's office, and their friendship was strong.

Goku was broken out of his thoughts about his only friend when the teacher, Koishi-sensei, slammed the door open and marched in, his face displaying a menacing scowl. "Sit down and shut up, you punks!"

After the class stilled and became silent, the grumpy teacher began pacing in front of the gathered students, looking over them with a piercing glare. His eyes locked onto Goku for a moment and narrowed into ominous slits.

"You, monkey brat. You scored highest on the practical exams last week," he said with a neutral, unfeeling voice, although the memory of his embarrassingly painful thrashing at the hands of the young Sarutobi couldn't be far from his mind.

Koishi's gaze then continued to roam the classroom before settling on a boy with cold white eyes sitting next to one of the windows. He was at that moment doing his best to project an image of lofty indifference to the goings-on around him in the classroom.

"Hyūga Neji, you placed second in the practical component of the tests and first place for the theory. Your essay on the practical applications of eight trigrams cosmology in taijutsu was impressive. I'll expect even more from you next semester," the sensei said, still without any sign of emotion.

Finally the grouchy chūnin's eyes came to rest on a small, demure boy at the back of the class. "Rock Lee! You are a _disgrace_. I've never seen such a pathetic display of ineptitude and stupidity in all my years teaching here. I've half a mind to expel you based just on your abysmal grades."

The boy seemed to shrink in on himself at the teacher's furious words.

"If you fail another test as badly as last week's again, I _will_ see you kicked out of this institution. Do you understand me?"

Lee nodded frantically, his face red with humiliation, tears fighting to escape his closed eyelids. Most of the class began snickering at his expense, until the teacher suddenly slammed his hand on his own desk.

"Shut up! Open your history textbooks to chapter twelve. I want someone to read to the class about the Nidaime's campaign in River Country during the First Shinobi World War. Who's volunteering?"

Several hours later found Goku outside on his lunch break doing physical exercises while sticking a leaf to his forehead with a steady flow of chakra. Naruto was trying to copy him, but his leaf kept shooting away from him.

"Stupid leaf. What good is this supposed to do anyway?"

Goku answered, "It's meant to help your chakra control. I combine it with push-ups like this to improve my concentration, which should help with another exercise I'm practicing at home. I've been at it for a few weeks now, so don't feel too bad if you don't pick it up right away."

The blond boy grunted in annoyance as his leaf blasted away from him for the umpteenth time. The two then continued to train doggedly in peace and quiet for the next ten minutes.

"H-Hey Goku," Naruto timidly began, sounding a little nervous. "Do you notice how the villagers give us cold looks all the time?"

Goku was surprised by the question and needed to give it a moment's consideration. "Hrm, I've never really thought about it. But I think I know what you mean. Why do you think they do that?"

"I don't know, but I _hate_ it. And I don't know how you can be so relaxed about it," the Uzumaki said accusingly.

"Well, like I said, I just never really noticed. Who cares what they think, anyway?"

Naruto grunted noncommittally. He cared about it, even if Goku didn't. Unlike the Sarutobi boy, Naruto was an orphan, completely alone. Sometimes the Hokage invited him to his house to spend time with Goku, but most of the time he lived by himself, always subjected to the dark glares of strangers. It wasn't fair, because Naruto was sure he hadn't done anything to hurt them or make them upset… well, except for the pranks. But those had started after the glares, not before.

The two friends were abruptly interrupted by the approach of a black-haired boy dressed in a dark high-collared tee-shirt with a red and white fan emblem stitched onto the back of it.

"Is this the one you were boasting about in class, dobe? The one who you said would give me a real fight?" the boy asked while eyeing Goku up and down sceptically. "He doesn't look very strong to me."

Naruto made a fist and jumped up in the newcomer's face, glaring at him fiercely. "Goku will rip you apart, Sasuke-teme!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Goku protested, standing up and letting his leaf drop to the ground. "Naruto, have you been picking fights for me behind my back again?"

"Ehehehe…" Naruto chuckled, scratching the back of his head abashedly. "Maybe. But the teme here really needs a good beating. He's always acting so cool, like he's something special. Bah."

"Naruto, I'm not going to fight this kid for you. Do it yourself," Goku said dismissively, turning away from the two lower-year boys.

"I don't want to fight the dobe. He's pathetic. I asked around and you're supposed to be the best fighter in your class, even better than that Hyūga genius. I'm the best in my year, so I'm challenging you to see which of us is the better fighter," Sasuke declared somewhat loudly, drawing the attention of those nearby.

A group of onlookers began to gather, most of them girls cheering for 'Sasuke-kun!'. An Inuzuka boy from Naruto's year opportunistically began to go around collecting bets. Of course all the bets only came from kids' lunch money and weren't going to amount to much.

Goku sweat-dropped at the sudden and intense attention he was receiving. _Damn, if I don't accept I'll look like a chicken. But if I do I have to make sure I don't put this kid in hospital… or a coffin._

"Okay, I'll fight you. But I'm warning you, this will be over fast," Goku warned.

"Of course it will," Sasuke returned sharply. "You won't last ten seconds against me."

A second later the two boys dashed toward each other. Sasuke threw a probing jab. Goku saw the fist coming at him as if in slow motion. He effortlessly reached out, grasped the offending hand, and tugged Sasuke toward him roughly. In the blink of an eye Sasuke found himself practically impaled on Goku's outstretched knee, the wind completely knocked out of him. He consequently slumped off and rolled onto the ground, coughing desperately for air and clutching at his stomach in pain.

The circle of onlookers fell deathly silent.

"Holy shit!" the Inuzuka yelled, finally breaking the quiet spell. He proceeded to collapse on his side laughing and pointing at Sasuke.

"Hahaha, did you guys see his face?" the Inuzuka asked the shocked crowd while doing exaggerated impersonations of Sasuke's agonised facial expression from the moment Goku kneed him.

"Shut up, Kiba-baka! Don't make fun of Sasuke-kun!" cried a pink-haired girl with green eyes and, Goku thought, a _huge_ forehead.

"Alright! Way to go, Goku. See, I told you he was only a teme," Naruto cheered, grinning from ear to ear. He was secretly hoping that now Sakura had seen Sasuke lose, she'd realise the Uchiha wasn't really anything special.

"Don't gloat, Naruto. _You_ didn't beat him," Goku chided.

Sasuke finally pulled himself back to his feet and glared at Naruto and Goku. He seemed about to say something but quickly thought better off it. With a loud 'Hn' he turned and walked off at a leisurely gait, trying not to show how much pain he was in. The pink-haired girl and another blonde one trailed after him, asking him if he was feeling okay, which the brooding boy ignored completely.

Among the crowd of slowly dispersing onlookers was the boy with white eyes from Goku's class, who had been hoping the Uchiha genius would humiliate his class rival somehow. But of course fate had not willed a younger boy to beat an older one, for that would be a reversal of their stations in life. "Feh." He also turned around and walked away from the other children.

The school day continued with considerably less excitement. By the end of the last class, which was a practice session for moulding chakra, Goku was beginning to fidget in anticipation of the coming evening. Maybe he'd get his first training session with his grandpa! If not, probably with Asuma, which was still good. His chain-smoking uncle had recently begun to teach him fire nature transformation. The first step was using his chakra to make a leaf burn to ashes. So far Goku had managed to get the leaf to become hot, let off a little smoke, and curl in on itself slightly. Asuma kept assuring him he was making good progress, but Goku felt the whole exercise was moving too slowly. There were so many great Katon techniques exclusive to the Sarutobi clan that he wanted to learn, but first he had to become proficient at nature transformation for the fire element.

After walking home from the Academy and entering the Sarutobi estate, Goku sat down in his bedroom and worked methodically through his homework, which consisted of answering a few theoretical questions about chakra, working out a half-dozen mathematical equations concerning trap mechanics, and writing a short text on what the Will of Fire meant to him personally. Although not intellectually brilliant by any stretch, Goku considered himself able-minded, and any lack of genius he could be accused of he tried to make up for by working diligently. A good work ethic and a drive to succeed had both been drilled into him by his grandfather for as long as he could remember, for which he was thankful. No one knew better than a Kage what it took to become a strong ninja, after all.

Just as he put the last brush stroke on his essay, Goku heard someone enter the house through the front door. He rushed downstairs and was only slightly disappointed to find his uncle Asuma taking off his sandals.

"Oh, hi, Asuma."

"Hey, kiddo. What's up?"

Goku gave a shrug. "Grandpa promised to help with my training from now on. I thought maybe you were him."

Asuma assumed a look of hurt. "What, you don't need me anymore now that you've convinced the old geezer to teach you some new tricks?"

"Of course I do! You've still got to teach me Haisekishō Ash Pile Burning," insisted the younger Sarutobi.

Asuma laughed and ruffled his adopted nephew's hair, which immediately bounced back into its characteristically spiky and wild shape once the hand was removed.

"If you want to learn that technique you know what you have to do. Go sit in the courtyard and grab some leaves. I want to smell the smoke of success here tonight, y'hear me, Goku?"

"I'll do my best," the boy promised before heading further into the estate.

He walked down a long hallway past some guest bedrooms to a wooden porch surrounding a spacious garden of smooth stone pebbles and a few cherry blossom trees. There he sat under one of the trees, picked up a fallen leaf, and began to mould his chakra into a fiery energy. Within his chakra circulatory system he could feel a rising heat, which he slowly pushed down his arms to the tenketsu in his fingers, and then—the most difficult part—across into the leaf. Slowly but surely the leaf began to emit smoke and fold in upon itself. Goku narrowed his eyes and focused on honing his concentration into a sharp edge. This was why he'd been practicing the leaf sticking exercise earlier that day during recess. At last he set his full willpower to burning the leaf. After weeks of repeated failed attempts, the leaf suddenly caught fire and disintegrated into a fine, black ash.

Excitedly, Goku picked up another leaf and repeated the process. This time it caught fire a second or two quicker. The ten-year-old picked up another and set it on fire yet faster again.

"Yatta! Uncle Asuma, uncle Asuma, I did it! I can finally burn the leaves!" he cried out, overjoyed.

Asuma appeared on the veranda around the courtyard with a lit cigarette between his lips. "Good job, kiddo. You picked that up a lot faster than I did, and I was older than you are now by a few years when I first learned nature transformation. I'm really impressed."

"Then will you teach me Haisekishō Ash Pile Burning now, please?" the boy pleaded, his eyes glistening with hopeful tears.

"Tomorrow I'll take you up behind the Hokage Monument to learn it. It's too dangerous to go breathing out gunpowder all over the house, you know. Dad'll be coming home any moment now. Didn't you want to train with him today?" the older Sarutobi asked with a knowing grin.

Goku cheered and jumped up onto the porch. "Right, well I'm going to go over to the dojo and warm up. Let him know I'm waiting for him, uncle."

"Will do, kid. And remember: he's not the Hokage for nothing. If you can't keep up with him, let him know to slow down."

Goku inwardly scoffed at this notion but reassured his uncle with a nod all the same. "Okay. See ya!"

The Sarutobi clan dojo was a large, traditional building. Hundreds of weapons were hung on three of the four walls. The last wall was made up of a dozen racks covered in hundreds of scrolls. Goku ignored all of these items and began to jog around the room, intermittently jumping, hopping, running backwards, or somersaulting. He then moved through a series of intense stretches. Just as he was finishing up the door to the dojo slid open and Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped inside.

"You're ready. Good. Today you will begin learning Saruken Monkey Fist taijutsu," the old man began to explain. "This is the style taught exclusively in our clan. It has been passed on from master to student for countless generations and is one of the four great schools of taijutsu in Konoha, along with Jyūken Gentle Fist, Gōken Strong Fist, and Hebiken Snake Fist."

Goku nodded, showing he was following.

"Saruken," Hiruzen continued, "is an extremely acrobatic style. You will need to push your body to its limits and beyond in order to master it, because many of its forms are modelled on the actual movements of monkeys. We humans are not so agile or flexible as they, so to make our bodies suited to Saruken a great deal of conditioning is required, especially in the legs, torso, and lower back.

"Later, when you achieve peak physical fitness and proficiency in the advanced forms I will teach you the accompanying bōjutsu style of Saruken. The bō staff is our clan's oldest traditional weapon. Only masters of it are allowed to summon the Monkey King Enma. And only those who are able to summon Enma can lead the clan. Do you understand the honour I am bestowing on you by teaching you this style, Goku?"

Awed by this new information and what it meant for him, the boy could only nod numbly, his monkey tail swishing about in anticipation. He distantly realised that there was no way Naruto would be allowed to learn this with him, and so didn't bother to ask about including his friend in the training. Somehow he would make it up to the blond. Maybe he would invite him to join the sessions with his uncle.

"Today I claim you as my legacy. So watch and mirror my movements. This is 'Alert Monkey Avoids the Tiger Claw', the first of many kata you will have to memorise," the Hokage said matter-of-factly while lowering into a deep stance, arms outstretched, hands formed into loose fists.


End file.
